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Final score: Bradley 90 Indiana State 89 in overtime

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Bradley (11-2, 2-0) at Indiana State (8-5, 2-0), Wednesday, January 1, at 6:00 pm (Central time)

The game is on ESPN+ - https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=6d702336-9d6a-486f-beb1-d66da0de5e39
Live Stats- https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=insu
Chat room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Radio- https://wmbdradio.com/player/?playerID=2045

Indiana State links-
Schedule/results- https://gosycamores.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://gosycamores.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://gosycamores.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2024-25

Head coach Matthew Graves is in his first season at Indiana State after Josh Schertz left to take the job at St. Louis University.
They lost their top 6 scorers from last season's MVC regular season championship team.
Indiana State leads the MVC with a scoring average of 84.3 points per game. Bradley ranks 2nd with 81.9 points per game.
InSU is shooting 50.0% overall and 36.6% from three. Bradley is shooting 49.3% overall and 44.4% from three, which ranks # 1 in the country.
The Sycamores' leading scorer is 6'2" senior guard Samage Teel (17.6 ppg), a transfer from Presbyterian. They have only one other player who averages double figures, 6'7" sophomore forward Jaden Daughtry (11.5 ppg). Six other players average between 7.4 ppg and 9.4 ppg.

Bradley stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats
MVC Individual stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/stats/player/_/group/18
MVC Team stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...p/18/table/offensive/sort/avgPoints/dir/desc​
 
I'm really fascinated about this game for a few reasons:
  • Indiana State's schedule has been just lousy aside from their last game. They have a lot of bad losses in there. But, they've got two Valley wins already. Very curious to see how they actually measure up against us with so much turnover.
  • Was Valpo actually just better than people think? Between their game against us and Drake, it seems like its so. If so, Indiana State feels like one of the teams they could jump in the standings and as a result be a very winnable road game for us. But, these things are always tricky, especially the night after New Years.
  • Even after watching every minute of the 12 games so far, I can't quite figure out how good we actually are. Are we in the top 4 of the MVC? Yeah, I think that's obvious. Top 2? Likely. But, where do we stack up against Drake? How about other potential tournament teams? Are we really just about a top 70ish team or are we really a top 30-50 team? Maybe this is still to be written and we can't really know fully yet, but this is one I had circled just to see where we really stand so far.
 
If we expect to win the Valley then this is a must win. The Valpo game came after another 8 days off so I expect for us to be much sharper come wed. night.
 
I expect us to be sharper come New Year's Day against Indiana St. We need to continue to improve in our post play. Box out and rebound better. Let's go get a win and come back home and keep the streak going.:)
 
BUBraves2006 said:
I'm really fascinated about this game for a few reasons:
  • Indiana State's schedule has been just lousy aside from their last game. They have a lot of bad losses in there. But, they've got two Valley wins already. Very curious to see how they actually measure up against us with so much turnover.
  • Was Valpo actually just better than people think? Between their game against us and Drake, it seems like its so. If so, Indiana State feels like one of the teams they could jump in the standings and as a result be a very winnable road game for us. But, these things are always tricky, especially the night after New Years.
  • Even after watching every minute of the 12 games so far, I can't quite figure out how good we actually are. Are we in the top 4 of the MVC? Yeah, I think that's obvious. Top 2? Likely. But, where do we stack up against Drake? How about other potential tournament teams? Are we really just about a top 70ish team or are we really a top 30-50 team? Maybe this is still to be written and we can't really know fully yet, but this is one I had circled just to see where we really stand so far.
Click to expand...

I really like this post. Good questions and I think we're all wondering the same thing. The ISU Blue game should tell us something. Let's see how we bounce back? Who's going?
 
Tommy said:
I really like this post. Good questions and I think we're all wondering the same thing. The ISU Blue game should tell us something. Let's see how we bounce back? Who's going?
Click to expand...

I'm going.
Right now I think we're "just" a top 70 team, with a potential to be a top 30-50 team IF there is an improvement curve through Valley play. What we should be concerned with is stagnation, both with individuals and as a team. There may need to be losses and adversity to bring about the discomfort needed to climb. I hope not, but who knows.
 
Rebounding and post defense. Those are the two major question marks with this team right now. At this point of the season, you pretty much know who you are. But if we want to win the league, we have to at worst start rebounding better on both ends of the floor. We get our hands on so many missed shots and tip them to the other team or out of bounds without grabbing the ball. If we can have a goal of being even on the rebounding battle every game at minimum, we should be fine. I think Corey Thomas has done a nice job with his post defense at times. I’d like to continue to see him start for now as he brings some physicality that we lack.
 
BUBraves2006 said:
I'm really fascinated about this game for a few reasons:...
[*]Even after watching every minute of the 12 games so far, I can't quite figure out how good we actually are. ...
Click to expand...

I have posted before that I see 2 significant issues with this year's team.
I'm not trying to be picky, but these couple things can get Bradley beaten by inferior teams...
1) Interior defense- Even with maybe the best group of big men in the MVC, Bradley's interior defense has not been great. BU gives up too many layups and points in the paint. And they are not rebounding well and give up too many offensive rebounds. They have the size, and depth to be much better. The Braves did hold Valpo to just 20 points in the paint, which was possibly the best job this season. So maybe they are getting that problem corrected. But they gave up 16 offensive rebounds to Valpo, which helped them get back into the game in the 2nd half.
2) Bradley depends too much on the 3-point shooting. When the perimeter shots are falling, it will win a lot of games. But every team that depends heavily on three pointers has occasional off-nights like last night's game, that almost lead to a bad loss against Valpo. Hopefully, the shooting gets back on track. But Bradley needs more scoring options for when it doesn't.
 
I'm looking forward to the Indiana State Game! They beat us Twice last year. I hope we can return the favor! If Bradley wants a 1 or 2 seed for MVC tournament, this appears to be a crucial game! Right now ESPN Bracketology has 2 MVC teams making the NCAA tournament. However, it's Drake as an at-Large and Indiana State as a guarantee Bid! If we beat ISU, I'm sure that changes to Bradley and Drake! Of course, it's still way to early to figure out. However, I hope Drake Keeps winning because 1) would love to see 2 Valley schools in NCAA tourney, and 2) would love to see Drake come to Bradley on Jan.8th undefeated and Possibly Ranked in top 25! This truly would set up a dream Match at home as well as probably a chance at a Quad 1 win. In any case, the MVC tourney is probably up for grabs with most likely Drake or Bradley as favorites. I'm excited to see how 2025 plays out! Go Braves.
 
Unfortunately, as of Dec.31st today, ESPN Bracketology has removed 2 Valley teams to just 1 team in the NCAA tourney. As of now, only Drake gets in as the Automatic Qualifier. Even though it's just a projected early seedings probability, I still find it fun to follow! Although it's unlikely, I still believe The MVC could get 2 in the tournament. Most likely those 2 would be Drake and Bradley.
 
Wow, what a finish. Bradley had 2 players foul out early and it seamed that every offensive possession that ISU had the ball, the refs called a foul on Bradley. Large discrepancy in number of free throws. Wardle was smart in going to a zone defense late in the OT. Duke Deen refused to allow ISU to win.
 
Bradley wins in overtime for the second game in a row.
Final score- Bradley 90 Indiana State 89 - https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=547362&_gl=1*3coy98*_ga*MTE1ODI3NTYxLjE2OTg2MT gyMzY.*_ga_2ZWVK1X7BJ*MTczNTc3NjQ3OC4yNy4wLjE3MzU3 NzY0NzguMC4wLjA.

The game was tied 82-82 at the end of regulation. Then, Indiana State scored the first 7 points of overtime to lead 89-82. But then a switch by Bradley to a zone defense coincided with Indiana State going the final 2 minutes 46 seconds of overtime without scoring. Meanwhile, Bradley scored the final 8 points of overtime, including a near-impossible circuitous drive by Duke Deen for a layup with 4 seconds left to win the game.
What a game!
Bradley overcame a number of obstacles, if you know what I mean. Just by pure coincidence, Indiana State shot 21 more free throws than Bradley, and two Bradley players fouled out (Hannah & Davis). Plus 3 more Bradley players had 4 fouls, necessitating the zone defense.
 
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